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Putting Milwaukee residents spelling skills to the test

Posted at 11:15 PM, May 31, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-01 00:15:23-04

Wisconsin is out of the Scripps National Spelling Bee after all three of our representatives were knocked out of the competition, including Hanna Ghouse, 13, from Kenosha after she misspelled the word "McMansion" Wednesday.

However, TODAY'S TMJ4 wanted to put some average spellers to the test to see how they fared. We gave them the two commonly misspelled words according to Google, and Ghouse's word "McMansion."

We got a lot of different responses when we asked how good people thought they were at spelling.

"Autocorrect," said James Patton of Milwaukee.

"I think I'm pretty good," said Milwaukee Alderman Russell Stamper.

"My spelling abilities are as good as my Android," said Carmelo Velazquez.

They were put to the test. First, they had to spell Wisconsin. It is the word Google originally said is the most misspelled word in the state. No one got it wrong.

"W-i-s-c-o-n-s-i-n," Stamper said.

Though Milwaukee Alderman Nik Kovac did have an interesting take on it.

"I spell Wisconsin M-i-l-w-a-u-k-e-e," Kovac said.

But things did get hard when they tried "tomorrow."

"Double 'm'?" Patton said.

"Two 'm's two 'm's two 'm's," said Zarian Glosson.

It's actually the most misspelled word in Wisconsin, according to the info Google sent TODAY'S TMJ4.

"T-o-m-o-r-r-o-w, is that not correct?" said Spencer Brown, a senior at Milwaukee High School of the Arts.

And if you need a way to remember, Dad comes through with the trick.

"Tom-or-row," said Lorenzo Johnson, the father of two 12-year-old twins.

But to really put people to the test we gave them the word our local Scripps Spelling Bee contestant missed Wednesday, “McMansion.”

"I think there are two Ss in mansion," said Brian Glosson, a senior at Milwaukee High School of the Arts, trying to come up with the spelling.

"You added an extra 'n'," said James Patton.

The 12-year-old Johnson twins got it right, but they are not sure about the word.

"It's fake," said Dayjeen Johnson, one of the twins.

And the one thing all these excellent spellers have in common.

"Milwaukee public School educated," Novak said.

"So the third district and 15th district have smart alderman," Stamper said.

"M-P-S!" chanted Brian Glosson.

"And we got all of them right," said Dahalia Robles, a senior at Milwaukee High School of the Arts.